January 18, 2006 — The people of Liberia have elected Africa’s first female president, and are poised to “do things differently” this time around. But serious challenges exist at all fronts – political, economic and social – for this small country of 3 million with a per capita income of $110. This fact is not lost on the in-coming president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Known as the “no nonsense woman,” the Harvard graduate whose employment history spans senior level positions at the World Bank and UN, among others (see bio), believes she is up to the task and will hit the ground running.  | Inauguration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf |
At the swearing in ceremony, January 16, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called for a new beginning: "Let us begin anew, moving forward into a future that is filled with hope and promise." She vowed to fight rampant corruption, which experts say has fueled decades of instability, and to uphold a foreign donor-backed Governance and Economic Management Program (GEMAP) that will oversee state spending: "We will accept and enforce the terms of GEMAP. We will ensure competence and integrity in the management of our resources." Johnson Sirleaf is quick to admit that given the sharp social and political divisions that bedevil her country today, she will need to run an inclusive government. She was also reported to have told a group of journalists recently: “Every Liberian, no matter where you come from, no matter what religion, political party or ethnic group you belong to, will feel proud to belong to this new Liberia.” Several questions come up in discussions and conversations with Liberians, home and abroad: Is it all for real this time around? Can it be sustained? Can they count on a good and accountable leadership from this new group of politicians? Can they count on better coordinated civil society groups ready and willing to participate selflessly in rebuilding Liberia? Can they also count on a more efficient and effective development partnership, this time around? More questions, obviously, than answers. But, if the lessons drawn from the immediate past history and political economy of Liberia is anything to go by, then all stakeholders involved in one way or the other in giving the good people of Liberia a fresh start must gird their loins and be ready to do things differently. What does this mean? How have things been done so far? Says Dr Siapha Kamara who just opened the Monrovia office of SEND Foundation, an NGO he has been running in Ghana during nearly 20 years of exile: “I really do not want to talk about who has done what right or wrong, but the one thing we certainly have to get right this time is to empower the people. We must ensure that government is truly decentralized and is accountable to the people. It means we must give the people voice, and provide them with all the information they need to monitor public expenditure. Otherwise, as we have seen in the past, both locally generated resources and aid money will go to waste.” He added, “Given the depth of deprivation and poverty the people of Liberia are facing, development partners have to adopt a different approach to development assistance. They have to go for quick results on the ground. I do not mean they should do things in a rush, but we have seen how in many countries, badly needed aid money remains undisbursed for years. They have to quickly strengthen local authorities and involve communities in the processes, to ensure that only the real needs of the people are met.” The role of the World Bank so far Meanwhile in Tokyo...
The Bank's Africa Team were in Tokyo last week for important consultations with counterpart donor agencies about joint commitments to the Africa Action Plan.
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Armed with tremendous experience from Sierra Leone, the Bank’s AFC10 department which covers Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia has been actively engaged in Liberia over the past 18 months (see the World Bank Program in Liberia ), and has played a leadership role in coordinating development partners around an integrated management framework known as the Results Focused Transitional Framework (RFTF). Based on the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF) approach and combining results-based and empowerment techniques, RFTF has proved to be an effective way of doing business so far, but given the difficulties of post conflict management, cracks started showing, particularly in the public resource management area. There was, therefore, the need to close the gap by designing a program that would ensure discipline in public expenditure management and help improve the financial and fiscal administration and also promote transparency and accountability. So the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) was born. According to Mats Karlsson, World Bank Country Director for Liberia, the past two years have brought security, humanitarian relief and democratic elections, but not enough economic change. In particular, endemic corruption has prevented the responsible management of public resources and stood in the way of re-establishing a responsible state. Karlsson represented the Bank at the inauguration, along with Counselor to the President Robin Cleveland and Luigi Giovine, the Senior Country Officer for Liberia. Facts about Liberia | | Population | 3,000,000 | | Population growth | 2.4% | | Life expectancy | 47 | | GNI | 355,000,000 | | GNI per capita | $110 | | GDP growth | -29.5% | | Aid per capita | $32 | 2003 data
Source: Little Data Book, 2005, World Bank |
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“I am convinced the new government will want to address this immediately by speeding up the implementation of the GEMAP," said Karlsson. "This will allow the international community to move on with the urgent needs, re-energize the economy, provide an increase in electricity, water and infrastructure and help create more jobs for the good people of Liberia. The World Bank will want to move quickly to bring in much needed assistance, and both Paul Wolfowitz and Gobind Nankani have given us strong backing and have urged us to proceed without delay.” According to Giovine, “We see the GEMAP as the real framework and entry point and for a fuller engagement between the Bank and Liberia. We have a great opportunity, with the completion of the electoral process to start on a clean slate, and we have to make sure that from this moment on, we help the new government to set up more effective and efficient systems for inclusion, transparency fiscal discipline and social accountability. Liberians are hard working people, and with just a little help, they can get up on their feet again.” Given the enormous task ahead, Giovine says it is important to recognize that only through excellent coordination of all stakeholders – government, civil society, private sector and development partners – can a lasting and sustainable dent be made on Liberia’s political economy landscape, with concrete results to show on the ground.
Article contributed by Kofi Tsikata, Ken Fosu and Stephen Tettevi, World Bank Ghana Office, and Herbert Boh, AFREX.
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